but im still replacing $500 worth of bulbs a year!

It would be about $350/yr, based on the MH, I buy (Ushio)... The new unit comes with your choice of Hamilton bulbs with the new unit, so you don't have to worry about the new bulbs if buying the new fixture for the first year of it.

You are still going to have a yearly cost on bulbs, if you want good bulbs, then more money. but the light fixture is one of the most important things if you want coral like SPS. I would just budget for that yearly cost.

If you don't want to worry about yearly bulb costs, then LED may be your solution, but they are not cheap. So you need to work it all out, spend it up front on the LED, or average out the cost by doing MH or some sort of combo and replace the bulbs each year. Either way, you will have to pay something.

Milad, go take a look at someones LED fixture to see if you like it. I'm still not too sure how I feel about them. Sure they are efficient and can be cheaper in the long run but I find the light from them to be weird at times (ugly)... Kinda like a Toyota Prius. It probably due to the separation of colours with different LEDs. I'm probably gonna be ripped a new one by LED advocates for those comments but just my opinion. I was wanting to make that switch and was actually disappointed when I actually saw them on a set up.

true, i havent seen an LED setup that I actually like yet. i do like the fixture but the corals never look "colorful".

im reading this might have to do with UV rays or something that the LEDs dont have. still doing a bunch of reading.

lights led's to T5's
 

Led's sure there good and cheeper on the bill's but All i have ever herd of with the LED's is that they burn out and it does take a long time to get them warrentied by the company that you buy them from. There is a friend of mine right now that is having a really hard time with the 4500.00 set he just bought. Its been now 3 months since he sent them in and he's sorry that he spent the money. He's trying to get his money back. The Tech. is still not really at it's best yet. i would agree with you if the LED Tech. was perfect like the T5HO are today or the MH are. throse 2 are still the best realible lighting right now. I wont take my chances with the LED at this time. My be in the next year or two I might.

i would be building the LED fixture so i can swap out anything if needed fairly easily. there is no much to read on this stuff though, im going blind!

x2!
Take a look at J&L's LED set up... corals DO NOT like it or maybe their staff still cant find proper setting either way i agree with many ppl who say that MH is still best for SPS.

Personally, I'm curious to see what the switch to the 250W takes and I think MH are the way to go. I say do it!

going blind
 

Well good luck to ya dud I wish you the best!!

Just went through this myself. Had a bulb burn out too soon.

After looking at everything, I am keeping the halides. I will be changing up the ballasts to something newer, and smaller than the one I have. I might change from SE to DE bulbs (still looking at this) I am also adding a few T5HO to the tank (almost went all T5)

Here is how I looked at it...

I like the halides. I like the shimmer, the intensity, everything! So, to justify the cost, I bought some more corals. I then cut them into frags. I am going to grow them out. By the time I need to buy new bulbs, I will sell the frags (should be small colonies by then) and use that money to cover the bulbs.

Reality is, I will likely sell them before the bulbs are needed. Then buy beer, or other corals, or tank toys with the money, but hell, the wife is buying into the idea so far.